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September 2007 |
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The PC is no longer just a box. It is a semi-clone of a human being. It has a brain called the CPU. It has a heart called the chipset. It has memory called RAM for short term and HDD for long term. It has blood called bits. Are the above analogies a good approach for explaining how a PC works to students? Students know that they are human- they have brain, heart, memory and blood etc. They know what those organs do in simple terms. They possess a framework of basic knowledge about the human body because they own one each themselves. By referring to the human body that students already know, students will find the PC no longer a boring or a magical box. Students will find the PC to be an ally and a good friend, besides being a good tool. Students will begin to open their horizon and will be more aware of PC technologies around them that they may previously take for granted or think are irrelevant. Students will be motivated to find out the differences between PC and themselves- what PC can do that human cannot such as repeating a numerical computation ten million times accurately, and what PC cannot do that human can such as forging a relationship with a fellow human. Our knowledge of the human body and the development of PC technologies are in fact at an early stage. There is a lot more to learn and to develop. Teachers should take a proactive role in encouraging student learning of PC technologies as the third element after literacy and numeracy.
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September 2007 |
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We all know that we need to back up our computer systems for various reasons and that system back up is a major and critical task for us system administrators and network managers. Some of you may have heard that the University of Wollongong in Australia has recently migrated from tape back up to disk back up cutting down back up time for 30TB from hours to minutes. Do we do the same for our schools? Yes and no. Yes because we need to ride the wave of newer technologies for improving the quality of our systems and our lives. No because every organisation has its own characteristics and imitating may not work. Herewith we would like to introduce a new back up system that is based on disk (fast) but for a different segment of the back up task. This new scheme is designed for personal level but can be applied at the server end as long as the system administrator has taken note of how it fits into the big picture of back up, disaster recovery and archiving. What are the most important or desirable criteria for a back up system? We would want the scheme to be reliable, efficient, low cost, and secured. The new scheme is easy to implement and use. It is low cost. Furthermore, it is the only one in its class to provide 256bit AES data encryption to give the owner of data total peace of mind. Please see the attached file for more information or contact
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September 2007 |
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Entering the Top League with Blade Server ...
What is a blade server? Where is the customer? How do we reach the customer? Why should the customer buy blade server from us? Can we do better than the reigning market leaders? These are the questions we normally have when we come across something which is not part of our current product portfolio. This short article will suggest the short answers.
A blade server is an arrangement for reducing the maintenance and management cost of servers. It is a device that groups together 10 servers (in the case of Compucon) in a small rack space of 7U (Compucon) where the bulk of cabling appears as printed circuit boards inside the device. Obviously only larger organisations that have multiple servers need blade servers. The research company IDC has found that blade server is a high growth product sector. This indicates that blade server is a natural evolution path of system form factors. The current blade server population may be only a fraction of servers but it will increase at a faster rate than non-blade server. Customers are those who already use blade server and those who do not know about blade server. Not many people know about blade server and we shall let them know. Customers do business with us because we can address their computing requirements and do better than other people. Customers do business with us because we always keep them informed of choices and options. Not many people can supply blade server. By being able to offer blade server (that we assemble under ISO-9001 QA procedures), we are admitted into the Top League. We will assist channel members to capitalise on this opportunity over time
Personal and Business Back Up System...
Our channel member Kevin Davidson introduced a new system in the last CPD seminar and grasped the attention of all people there. It is a system consisting of an external notebook size hard disk and a software that schedules, automates and encrypts the back up (and recovery) of files including Outlook emails. As far as we have researched, it is a unique product. Nevertheless, it is not in the class of tape libraries or auto-loaders. The context is for smaller businesses that may be using tapes, DVD, CD, NAS, removable HDD and a variety of back up devices. We can use it for backing up files of a server under Windows 2003, or a workstation or PC or laptop under Windows XP Pro 32 (or Vista Business 32). We can use it to back up the whole system image but using NTBackup if the hard disk on USB 2.0 connection is larger than the footprint of the system image. If we think we have stretched this system too far, we can stay with its niche areas- ease of use and encryption for personal files. Stock will arrive anytime now. Reseller price is $78 + GST for the system (software and HDD enclosure). Code is #5QB25
Welcome to Rayson and Mitch...
Rayson Chan is our new TSD contact point replacing Isaac who has joined the family business in the Bay of Islands . Rayson has worked for several IT companies in Auckland and Hong Kong . He was educated in Auckland (BSc) and Sydney (MSc). Mitch Fox has also joined TSD and is the principal system builder in our office. Many of you have met Mitch already as he has attended several CPD and CAST seminars previously. Mitch has a high level of workmanship. He has previously worked on system support for 8 years in Auckland . Both can reached on the TSD direct phone number 415 3305
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August 2007 |
Note: This article is for advanced users only - only proceed if you are absolutely confident in doing this task.
You need to have Java runtime environment 1.5 or later installed before running SDREditor.
Refer to the manual below for instructions on usage.
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August 2007 |
Continuing professional development plays an important role in assisting Compucon channel members to remain current and develop new competencies in information technology practices
3:30pm Personal/Executive Back Up System (Kevin Davidson)
There are many ways and devices for data back up on a personal level. We have found one device that stands out from the rest. This device provides scheduling and automation of back up functions that are easy to operate. Most importantly, it provides encryption of data, emails and files that are backed up to the device so that the backup is absolutely private. Compucon will introduce this device to the channel here if channel members are convinced that it is a good solution.
Download Personal/Executive Back Up System
4:15pm System Platform & Roadmap Update (TN Chan)
We will do a brief analysis of why AMD has performance leadership and how Intel improves its computing subsystem efficiency by going outside the CPU. We will learn how AMD helps maintaining platform consistency and what challenges we have to address on Intel platforms. If time allows, we will explain what is blade server and its merits over the traditional rack mounted system arrangement.
Download System Platform & Roadmap Update
5:00pm Microsoft Terminal Services (Sean Dring)
My biggest problem with Terminal Services is how the licensing works, either per user or per device. The whole system would be easier to manage and make more sense if per simultaneous use, ie 10 licences would allow 10 connections at any one time, as a user logs off it would free up the connection. Please clarify licensing of Applications when running terminal server. Rules for adding Office as an Application to a Terminal Server ... such as can we use OEM?
It might be interesting to hear more detail about the Client and Resource Access Policies. With regard to the 2003 version, (and possibly the 2008 version) I would dearly like to know how to allow users access without having to make them members of the Administrators group.
Performance issues- optimum hardware (CPU and memory size); The documentation with TS talks of needing 10MB of extra RAM per each added user. This is minimal in terms of the general trend to have at least 1GB and preferably 2GB of System Ram Memory on board. There is a slight loss of speed when using a TS session from a remote location on good Broadband connections of say 2.5Mbps download and 128Kbps upload. What kind of performance can a client expect on a dial up connection compared to this speedy broadband connection?
Co-existence of TS with other server services such as Domain Control, F&P etc in the same Server Hardware. Does Microsoft have any recommendation on a Full Microsoft Server Farm inclusive of Terminal Services?
Security issues with respect to Terminal Services, local and remote sites. What measures are available to protect customer data during a TS session? How secure is port 3389 that TS uses since it must be known to hackers for instance that pin holes are put in Router Firewalls to make TS work. Establishing VPN via say a router with built in VPN tunnels each end may be a better option. How secure is the RDP client?
Download Microsoft Terminal Services
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